Two Harsco track machines for Tasmania

Two Harsco Rail heavy-duty track surfacing machines—a Mark VI Production/Switch Tamper and a Ballast Regulator—are on their way to Launceston, in the Australian island state of Tasmania, for deployment on TasRail.

Both surfacing machines, which operate on 1,067 mm (42-inch) narrow gauge track, have crash resistant operator cabins and couplers. This allows the tamper and regulator to track-travel in-consist as a train and then decouple at the work site, an important safety requirement for the customer. In addition to Harsco’s Jupiter Control System, the tamper features split tool work heads, and a liner with sharp curve shift.

The Mark VI Production/Switch Tamper, in conjunction with the Ballast Regulator, “provides our customer with a high quality machine pairing that can meet the challenges of Tasmania’s mountainous terrain, tight curves, and narrow track gauge,” says Harsco Rail Product Manager for Surfacing Chris Larsen. “These machines were ordered in 2012 and are the latest Mark VI Tamper and Ballast Regulator combination that Harsco has delivered into Australia and New Zealand this year. TasRail’s Request For Qualification presented several design challenges, but our versatile Mark VI design platform allowed our engineers to configure this machine to address this demanding, unique specification.”